Currently in Midland TX (Low 37 Plenty of Sun High 68)
From 1951 to 1955 George W. Bush and his family lived in this house in Midland Texas. We borrowed this picture from the website, all the other photos are ours because you are allowed to take pictures which is nice.
This was only the second house that George H. W. and Barbara owned and it was the larger of the two. The house was filled with both happiness and sadness as their sons Jeb and Neil were born here but Robin their daughter died of leukemia while they lived here. About his time in Midland George W. said it best, "Our deepest values in life often come from our earliest years...It is here where I learned what it means to be a good neighbor at backyard barbecues or just chatting across the fence. It is here in West Texas where I learned to trust in God." He got some of his earliest lessons from the Roy Rogers Riders Club watching Saturday morning television in what they called the den, the one television in the house.
He would copy as many of the 10 rules as he could during each episode until he had them all. He and his friends then carried these rules with them reminding them how to be good citizens. He joined the Roy Rogers Riders Club and you can see the rules above his bed and the Riders Club shirt on the bed. Interestingly one of George W's boyhood friends assisted in the renovation and read the rules at the dedication ceremony. Here is George W's bedroom.
A closeup of the rules.
Shelves in his bedroom.
They had quite the time restoring this house back to how it was when the Bush family lived there. There were 7 different owners and it seemed like everybody either had to paint and wallpaper over the beautiful wood in George W's bedroom and elsewhere in the house. They painstakingly removed all the paint and wallpaper to reveal the wood you see today.
Other photos from the house - the kitchen.
The phone stand, one phone and a party line to boot.
An original fixture.
One thing there are trying to find or replicate is the washer and dryer like they had in the kitchen. What they have found is the salt and pepper shakers given when the units were bought.
With one television and one channel they had a lot of time for reading. Here is a rolling, spinning bookcase and a bookcase in the hall.
We found this pretty neat, a photo that Barbara took of George W. on his bike in the street.
The interesting thing is that time seemingly has not passed on this street. Notice the gas hookup, the crack in the concrete near the driveway and the garage doors.
We'll end with the 10 Rules of the Roy Rogers Riders Club
1. Be neat and clean
2. Be courteous and polite
3. Always obey your parents
4. Protect the weak and always help them
5. Be brave but never take chances
6. Study hard and learn all you can
7. Be kind to animals and care for them
8. Eat all your food and never waste any
9. Love God and go to Sunday school regularly
10. Always respect our flag and our country
Wish more people lived by these rules today.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Midland TX (Low 56 Windy with Plenty of Sunshine High 78)
After a short stay in San Angelo we departed yesterday for Midland RV Park in Midland Texas.
It was approximately 120 miles, this is the route we took.
We have some sightseeing to do while in Midland, there is a Curtiss SB2C at the Commemorative Air Force museum. This is the plane that Bob's dad flew off of the aircraft carrier Wasp in WWII. Also in Midland is the George W. Bush boyhood home. Plus there looks like some neat places to eat.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 45 Sunny Currently 55)
Currently in Location (Currently 54 Sunny and Warmer High 81)
We extended our stay in San Angelo Texas one day because of the weather. We had heavy rain but within 50 miles there was dangerous thunderstorms and a tornado or two. It is time to head further west to get out of tornado country.
We didn't do much while here but we did experience Lobsterfest at Red Lobster and Jo got a haircut and color. She went in for a brunette with highlights but came out blonder and more brassy than she wanted. The perils of getting a haircut/color on the road. It wasn't cheap to come out looking like a brassy blonde either. While Jo was getting a haircut Bob got new tires for the truck at Discount Tire. An expensive day for sure. The rest of our stay it rained and Jo was feeling a little under the weather anyway.
GPS took us right to the San Angelo KOA. The interior roads and sites were gravel. We were in a long pullthru and the hookups were convenient with two sewer connections depending on which end of the site you chose. We had a satellite friendly site with a nice patio. Although KOAs are more expensive than most parks we have started staying more and more. Site unseen you can generally count on a KOA as a good park because sometimes we have been fooled by the website and reviews of other parks and haven't enjoyed our stay. We would stay at this KOA again as there is a lot to do in San Angelo if we came back again.
Here is the site from the front.
The patio by the front door was nice.
To the right.
To the left, we were on the end of the big rig pullthru section.
From the rear.
It was a short stay but we would stay here again if we pass this way again.
We leave today for Midland Texas where we hope to do some sightseeing as it looks like the weather will cooperate.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in San Angelo TX (Low 55 Breezy with Plenty of Sun High 91)
After two and a half months for Bob to establish doctors and get some diagnostic testing done we were ready to hit they road. And so we did departing Kerrville yesterday and headed to the KOA in San Angelo Texas.
It was approximately 154 miles, this was the route we took.
One thing we should have blogged about yesterday when comparing nomadic vs sedentary living is the first couple of nomadic trips. After being sedentary for awhile the prep for departure takes a little longer than usual, it takes a little while to get back into the rhythm.
We will be here for a short visit with Midland Texas as our next stop.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 46 Sunny Currently 49)
Heading to San Angelo TX (Currently 41 Mostly Sunny High 83)
As we got closer to leaving Kerrville after almost three months there we realized that we fell into our regular habit of not blogging much when we are at place for more than a few days.
When we are nomadic there are updates on our travel days, the sightseeing we do, birdwatching, and a review of the parks we stay at. Here are a couple examples.
When we are sedentary we use that time to catch up on laundry and other things to do around the RV and go to some movies. If we want to so some sightseeing there seems to always be time so the urgency is just not there and a lot of times we find something else to do. So the end result is that our blogging slows down to a trickle.
If we have been to the place before we already have a list of places to eat so we hit our favorites first. Then we add new places to eat, especially if we are in new place, occasionally blogging about foodie stuff. Then of course as we are getting ready to leave we have to eat one last time at our favorites. Here is the brisket from Bill's BBQ in Kerrville and the smoked salmon benedict from The Sunset Grille in Fredericksburg, two of the places we had to eat at before we left.
Since we will be traveling the next few months we should be back to our old blogging selves.
We are leaving Kerrville today and heading to San Angelo Texas.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 48 Partly Sunny High 80)
We really like this park nestled right next to the Guadalupe River, although we call it the "Wrong Way Corrigan" park. Wrong way because our GPS took us to the entrance on the other side of the highway. Luckily there was someone entering the gate on that side and he entered the code so we could enter and turnaround. If not we would have had to back onto highway which would not have been fun.
It was also wrong way when we tried to park. Approaching our loop we saw the power box and decided we had to back up and go in the other direction. When we got into the site we saw that the sewer connection was on the other side, the wrong side if you were. So we drove off and approached the way we originally came into the loop. With the power and water on the other side we had to run the water hose under the RV and we needed a couple of 25' hoses. The power cord was at the back so it wasn't a big deal.
After we got the "Wrong Way Corrigan" aspects of the park and got setup we can say we like the park. The roads and sites are asphalt. Every site in the Sycamore Loop is a pullthru with 50amp full hookups. We also had a great line of sight for our roof mounted satellite dish. This park is not a 'Winter Texan' type of place because there is not a clubhouse so there are no social activities. This is a city park that caters to short time visits so we didn't talk with that many folks. We did try to help a few people as they were coming in to explain the utility setup. There were a lot of RVs that we saw go one way, then a few seconds later we saw them head the other way.
A review would not be a review without some pictures. Here is the Lifestyle from the front, also showing to the left due to the layout of the park. You can barely see on of the primitive cabins along the river that the park has.
To the right.
From the rear.
We have to be back here in mid-September to followup on some of Bob's medical tests so we have made reservations here. Hopefully we will remember the setup and get into the site on the first attempt.
Note: Bonus points if you understood the "Wrong Way Corrigan" reference!
We leave tomorrow for San Angelo Texas for our abbreviated travels this year.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 60 Partly Cloudy High 84)
While in Kerrville we drove to Fredericksburg and visited the Wildseed Farm, which is the nation's largest working wildflower farm.
We came to see the bluebonnets which were at 100% blooming and the red corn poppy which are at 50%. Here is an up close view of the bluebonnet.
There were many fields with bluebonnets.
A red corn poppy up close.
Fields of red corn poppy were also viewable.
There was a trail behind the gift shop where you could walk to the various fields and if you got tired they had park benches along the way.
A lot of neat stuff on the trails, giraffe and Lone Star.
When we had finished we went through the gift shop which had a lot of neat stuff. Here is one display.
We had a great time, it was neat to see so many bluebonnets. We have seen them on the side of the road a lot but then the mowers come. We did find this one picture kind of funny. They had gardens of flowers and herbs they were planting in neat rows for sale and for research. Look at the neat rows and then all the wildflowers that are encroaching on the area, they are wild after all :-)
We'll end with a display out front that reflected a lot of the things we see in Arizona. Maybe we are a little homesick for Arizona.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 60 Patchy Low Clouds and Fog Giving Way to Sun High 79)
Bob has had an up and down NCAA Tourney so far. After a great 15-1 start on Thursday he was 10-6 on Friday. On Saturday and Sunday he only got 7 right out of 16. Added to that the Iowa State Cyclones lost their Saturday game and did not advance to the Sweet 16. He does have 2 remaining in the Final 4 and his National Champion, Arizona, is still alive. Even with all this it has been a fun tourney.
After 2 and a 1/2 months in Kerrville we will be heading out the end of the month. We have to be back in mid-September so it will be a short trip up to Colorado via Albuquerque and then to the Kansas City area then back down to Kerrville.
While here we went to a wildflower farm which we will blog about later. Until then here is a closeup of some bluebonnets.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 60 Partly Sunny and Pleasant High 80)
"12 Hours, 16 Games, Sore Butt" that's how Bob described yesterday.
Beginning with an 11:15 a.m. Central time tipoff between Princeton and Notre Dame and ending with Nevada versus Iowa State, Bob watched 16 ball games yesterday on four networks.
Bob was correct on all 8 games for the afternoon session on the ESPN Tournament Challenge. For the evening session he was correct on 7 games, including correctly picking Iowa State (his alma mater) to beat Nevada. 15-1 is the best Bob has ever done, currently in the 99.2 percentile.
A couple of observations. Bob noticed a difference watching the games in the Central Daylight Timezone. When we are in Goodyear, in a state that does not abide by daylight savings time, the games start 2 hours earlier but more importantly, end 2 hours earlier. The last game ended last night at about 11:00 p.m. so Bob didn't wind down until about midnight. Winding down at 10p is easier for sure.
Even with a sore butt March Madness is the best sports time of the year. There weren't any buzzer beaters and only a couple of upsets, one in the afternoon session with a 12 (Middle Tennessee) beating a 5 seed (Minnesota). The evening session upsets includes Xavier (11) over Maryland (6).
One other thing we noticed is that the commercials for March Madness are much, much better than the ones we saw for the Super Bowl. The Capital One commercials with Charles Barkley, Samuel L. Jackson and Spike Lee were very funny. The Navy Federal Credit Union commercial was also very good. There were also a lot of Jersey Mike commercials and they do have great subs.
Bob does it all again today, 16 games in 12 hours beginning with Oklahoma State versus Michigan, probably one of the more entertaining games of the day. He doubts he will do as well as he did today but time, and a sore butt, will tell.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 57 Morning Mist then Mostly Cloudy High 75)
Jo deserves a lot of sympathy all of the time considering whom she is married to :-)
But this time of the year, NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, aka March Madness, Jo needs a whole lot more sympathy.
Bob spends 12 hours in front of the TV watching as much as four games at one time on Thursday and Friday for a total of 32 games over those two days. It does get better on Saturday and Sunday as there are only 16 games total. The games are spread out over four television networks, CBS, TruTV, TBS, TNT.
So be thinking about poor Jo these next four days.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
Currently in Kerrville TX (Low 58 Breezy and Cloudy with some Sun High 79)
We saw another movie while in Kerrville, this time we saw "The Shack".
If you are expecting a theologically correct movie then "The Shack" is not the movie for you. This is a work of fiction after all. If you can overcome this, and a movie that does does drag in spots, you are going to see a movie with some interesting spiritual overtones. On the surface the main character, Mack a church going husband and father, has a model life with a loving wife and 3 kids. Beneath the surface was a troubled childhood followed by another tragedy causes Mack to question in his believe and trust in God.
Getting an invitation from God to spend the weekend at "The Shack" at first Mack is reluctant to go but at last relents. What follows is a weekend full of symbolism, forgiveness and reconciliation. Whether the visit actually occurs or just in the mind you'll not find out but it does not matter.
This is a movie that probably isn't for everyone and is slow in some spots so it is difficult to give this a recommendation.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
